Trail Blazers toy with woeful Wizards

PORTLAND, Oregon (Ticker) -- In the Western Conference, the
Washington Wizards are out of their league.

All-Star candidate Brandon Roy collected 22 points, tied a
franchise record with 10 steals and added seven assists and five
rebounds as the Portland Trail Blazers hammered the woeful
Wizards, 100-87, on Saturday.

The loss came on the heels of crushing defeats by the Golden
State Warriors (119-98) and Los Angeles Lakers (117-97) this
past week for Washington.

"You're always looking forward to going back home when you've
back out for a week. And the opposition hasn't been exactly
friendly to us," Wizards head coach Ed Tapscott said.

Rookie Greg Oden dominated the paint, collecting 18 points and
14 rebounds. Oden has 52 points and 37 rebounds in his past
three games, largely due to a sharp increase in his playing
time.

"It feels good when you're out there playing. You actually put
up good numbers when you're out there on the court," Oden said.
"You just try to go in and fight for the rebounds. One game you
might be in the right spot, another game you might not."

Caron Butler led the way for Washington, netting 29 points while
going 9-of-15 from the field. The Wizards' only moment of
respite came when Butler tied the game at 24-24 in the second
quarter.

From there, the Blazers never looked back.

Sergio Rodriguez drained a 3-pointer to put the Blazers back on
top and followed two plays later with a turnaround jump shot.

The Blazers held the Wizards to 14 points in the second quarter
and 31 in the first half. They had built a 73-55 lead by the
start of the fourth quarter.

"I thought we came out very aggressive defensively. This is a
jump-shooting team so we needed to get into the ball," Blazers
coach Nate McMillan said. "They were trying to attack in the
middle, which is normally where the offense tried to go to. We
recovered."

Rodriguez, who had been averaging 6.5 points since filling in
for injured starter Steve Blake, had 12 points and seven
assists.

"Of course, when I am getting more minutes, I am feeling more
confident," Rodriguez said.

Fellow Spaniard Rudy Fernandez missed seven shots in a row,
including five 3-pointers, before putting in a pretty breakaway
layup with 7:26 to go in the fourth quarter.

Fernandez followed up on the next play with a 3-pointer from the
left wing, giving the Blazers an 87-67 lead.

Portland, despite Wednesday's loss to LeBron James' Cleveland
Cavaliers, has won four of its past five home games, improving
to 16-5 at the Rose Garden this season.

Washington drops to 3-19 on the road, tying it with the Oklahoma
City Thunder for the worst road record in the NBA.